Show date in Microsoft Streets and Trips, instead of just Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

I think I have seen this on the forum, but want to specifically request this feature in S&T. As an RVer, it would be nice to enter the start date of the trip on the Options template, and then have the trip print out or show actual dates rather than "Day1, Day 2, etc. Trailer Life Campground Navigator allows you to do this and it is great for insuring that you have all your reservations correct.

Thanks,
Tom

Tom, occasionally I hear this feature requested by users. It is a function one would think is a must in a trip planner.

July 21 has more meaning in some situations than Day 4, doesn't it?

Yes, Marvin, I agree, and you would think that MS already has "calendar" technology that could be imported in. Again, Trailer Life has put that functionality (the start date) in the Tools / Options area.

I agree with this suggestion.

What I do to compensate is to put some 'dead' days in the itinerary at the beginning of the trip to reset the day counter to coincide with the calendar dates. That is, I put in multiple nights spent at the start address before setting off.

Of course, this does not work terrifically well if the itinerary rolls over into a new month.

Awesome tip! Thanks for sharing!

SpadesFlush,
Thanks for the suggestion, but since I am retired, my trips go more than 31 days, typically ninety or more. But maybe I can figure a way to have it work.

Tom, I appreciate the inherent weakness of my methodology and that is why I support your suggestion.

But are you structuring all this traveling as one big trip? Or break it down into shorter legs?

Departure on the 16th of the month:



The above screenshot illustrated the clever idea by SpadesFlush .

A handful of people will use this workaround , but masses would benefit if a calendar feature was added to the program itself in a future version.

Yep, Marvin, you get it.

Thanks for the clear illustration of my cryptic message.

Sorry this is a little off topic but since we are talking about the stop dialog I would like to be able to say I'm refueling at a stop by checking a box on this same dialog.

I agree the date would be great also. It would also be nice to have an odometer between stops and between refueling. This could be listed in the directions pane. There's plenty of room for it. You could even allow multiple columns and allow the user to pick which columns are displayed.

Curt

The following has been taken from another thread that discussed various topics. It is relevant to this thread, so I'm quoting it here:

I think this "Wish List" thread is a good place to share ideas on this. Kudos to Gladwin and others at S&T Team for considering some of the suggestions talked about here.

Gladwin,

Here are my responses to your inquiry:

I would want to choose a start date - I plan trips 5-6 months in advance, and while the current date is a possibility and could be the "default" date, with the ability to choose a date from a calendar in the software or just type one in - similar to the calendar/appointment function in Outlook [now that I mention Outlook, I could ask for a way to set the stops up programmatically in the Outlook calendar, also, (smile)]. If you pick up a copy of competitive software - Trailer Life Campground Navigator - you can see that they already have the functionality imbedded.

Gladwin, once I'm on the road, if I need to change the itinerary, then I would simply add one more night to the stop I stayed over. This happened to us two years ago with a breakdown. We ended up staying one extra night in one location [i.e. add a night to that stay] and cancelling our first night at the next stop [i.e. subtract a night from the next stop]. The calendar would then reflect dates correctly - we would still leave that next stop on the originally planned day and be at our next planned destination on time.

This type of change would happen frequently in the planning process as I generally plan this way:
1. Choose a major destination area - say Southwest USA.
2. Find all the places we want to see specifically - Grand Canyon, Arches National Park, etc. and then decide how many days we want to spend in each area. Here is where the calendar function comes in handy, because many places offer discounts during the week, or during holiday weekends, they require two and three day minimum stays, etc.
3. We then look for camping areas within 20, 30, or more miles close to the destination place, and set up "stops" at these campgrounds. Here is where the search function gets me frustrated, because if I have 40 stops designated and I have searched for a campground at 25 miles, then I accidently hit the route line or a city on the route, I will get a 25 mile search on the "entire route" the next time I search.
4. We then run the "optimize stops" routine.
5. Then we rearrange the itinerary in desired order - sometimes the optimization doesn't give you a route that you can live with.
6. We then fill in overnight stops along the way, based on our major criteria - 200 miles per day is what we like to aim for - and always looking for interesting places for an overnight - last year we stopped in Mitchell, South Dakota to see the Corn Palace. This year, we will catch the main L L Bean store on our way up the coast of Maine.
7. Once that is done, then we can add the total trip days [we like to be out no more than 90-100 days maximum] and see if we need to add or subtract days here and there to meet that criteria. We can see that at the top of the directions after you run the routing.
8. This is the point that I start making reservations and need the calendar, the address and phone number. The stop numbers become my numbering system for reservations - a sheet protector for every stop in a three ring binder with that number tabbed.

I know we probably "over-plan" a trip, but that's my project planning background showing up - "plan the work, work the plan". Some RVers, make no reservations until several nights before they leave the previous stop. We have found that we have always gotten to see what we want, and only occasionally have wished we could have stayed one more day. Gives us a reason to go back to the same area again!

Sorry for the length of the message, but I thought it would be good to explain the process we go through to help you understand the need for functionality changes to fit the RV lifestyle.

Hope to hear back soon,

Tom

The just released Streets & Trips 2010 included some very useful features, but this one hasn't been implemented, yet. I think still many users would love this one to make it into perhaps Streets and Trips 2011.

I've been asking for this for years. Hopefully they will listen. As far as how exactly should it work, as already mentioned here look at how they did it in Trailer Life Navigator. It works exactly the way users want.